5 Things You Should Not Feel Guilty About In Your 20s

Happiness should be non-negotiable. However, one thing is true for many of us: we often delay our happiness for so many things that we deem more important, such as career, family, and financial stability. But while securing all these help us live a more comfortable life, it doesn’t guarantee happiness. At the end of the day, it’s essential to be selfish sometimes and do the things your heart desires, rather than living with regret later in life.

1. Quitting an Awful Job

May it be your part-time job or your full-time job that you hate, quit it if you no longer find it fulfilling. Life is too short to spend every day of your life doing a job you hate. But be sure you have enough funds to support yourself while you’re on the hunt for a new job. Being jobless is just going to be temporary, and you will soon get back into the swing of things once you land the job you truly want.

2. Making Your Passion Your Profession

It’s tragic to hear that many of us have remarkable talents, yet we stick to a more practical career because it’s more stable and reliable, right? Wrong. While you’re still in your 20s, take advantage of the many opportunities that come along your way. When you reach your 30s and 40s, your window of opportunity gets smaller, and you’ll have much fewer options in terms of job and career. If you find a profession that matches, you won’t have to work a single day in your life.

3. Going on a Lavish Vacation

You won’t always have the chance to spoil yourself on a lavish vacation, so when the opportunity comes, grab it. Later in your life, relationships, bills and kids will make you think twice on booking that Caribbean trip and spending an entire week on the beach with your girl friends.

4. Taking Long Leaves

Do not hesitate asking your boss for long leaves. Use them up, not for some mundane family-related occasion, but for your personal breaks and vacations. Travel and explore places you have never been before, or use up a few days of your leave allowance to visit your out-of-town relatives. Do whatever makes you happy. It helps manage stress and inspires you to be more productive.

5. Having a Decent Gym Membership

If it’s something for the betterment of your health, you should never regret doing it. Joining a gym will not only give you an outlet to relieve the frustrations and stresses brought on by work, people and life in general, it will also give you that bikini-worthy bod. Depending on how much you can afford, a basic gym membership comes with just machines and some weights, but spending a bit more than S$20 a month gives you access to group classes, which instantly makes working out much more bearable.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that you will succeed after your first try, but it’s easier to seize every opportunity in your 20s than in your 30s and 40s. Years later, regret for doing something is much more forgivable than regret of not doing what you love.